Televisions and other video display devices with ever-larger screen sizes are now widely available and accessibly priced for a large segment of the consumer market. Power consumption by display screens and other components of these devices can be quite substantial. Additionally, prolonged use can lead to degradation of various components. Power consumption and component degradation of such units occurs regardless of whether a user is actively watching the screen. In some types of televisions, for example plasma and cathode ray tube models, display of a static image can cause more rapid degradation of the screen due to “burn-in.”
Currently available video display devices typically have more than one power mode. In active mode, the display, tuner, and most other components of the unit are operated at full power mode. To comply with energy conservation regulations, such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star® guidelines, a video display device can include a power-down feature that activates a lower power consumption “sleep” mode or a more complete power shutdown if no video input is received for a given period of time. This approach saves power for cases in which a video data input source attached to the video display device is powered down or otherwise not actively providing a video signal to the video display device. The video signal can be an analog signal or digital video data.
Digital video recorders (DVRs), which are also known as personal video recorders (PVRs) (hereinafter generically referred to as DVRs), such as those available from various cable and satellite television providers and from TiVo™ Inc. (San Jose, Calif.), can be used to record television and other types of video programs off the air onto a hard drive. Personal computer software packages are also available that convert a desktop or laptop computer to a DVR for recording television and other types of video programming digitally and allowing playback of a video stream that is outputted to a television. Using a DVR, a viewer can enable a “pause” mode in which playback of the video program stops. For a typical DVR, the pause mode can be enabled either during playback of a prerecorded program or during viewing of a live television broadcast. The DVR can record and store a live broadcast while playback is paused so that viewing can be restarted from the paused point when the user is ready to resume. Digital versatile disk (DVD) players, another common consumer video source, can also be paused during playback of a program or movie recorded on a DVD or video CD. Video game consoles can also be connected to a video display device. Game consoles can display an unchanging image, such as for example a start-up screen, for an extended period of time if no user input is provided. Additionally, many game consoles now include video playback capabilities that allow them to be used to show programs recorded on DVD, compact disk, an internal or external hard disk drive, or other digital media. Such programs can be paused much like with a DVR or DVD player. Other devices, such as laser disk players, video cameras, video cassette recorders, personal computers, and the like, can also be connected as an external video source to a video display device and can provide an unchanging image in the video input stream.